Posts Tagged ‘Danielle Nierenberg’

On Wednesday, October 17, Nourishing the Planet Director Danielle Nierenberg spoke about the role of innovation in agriculture at the World Food Prize Foundation’s “DialogueNEXT” in Des Moines, Iowa. Watch the full video here!

Statistics for July indicate a 10 percent rise over just the previous month, and a 6 percent increase over already high prices from the same time frame a year ago.

Danielle Nierenberg argues in the article, “[t]he silver lining of the current drought is that the West can perhaps take a new look at the sustainable practices that have been helping many African farmers combat drought. This is an opportunity for the Western world to look to the developing world – they have a lot to teach us.”

The Syracuse Post-Standard published an op-ed co-written by Danielle Nierenberg, director of the Nourishing the Planet project and Sophie Wenzlau, communications associate with the Nourishing the Planet project.

The article focuses on innovative school lunch programs that are making children healthier in upstate New York. With childhood obesity and malnutrition affecting many of our nation’s children, schools play an increasingly important role in reversing this trend and reinforcing healthy eating habits. More schools nationwide need to incorporate hands-on nutrition education and provide local, nutritious and tasty food on student’s school lunch trays.

Today, Daily Times Nigeria published an op-ed co-written by Jill Sheffield, president of Women Deliver, and Danielle Nierenberg, director of the Nourishing the Planet project at the Worldwatch Institute.

The article focuses on women in Nigeria and their role in sustainable development. The piece highlights the need for women’s rights to be a core issue at Rio+20, a conference marking the twentieth anniversary of the first Earth Summit in Rio. In Nigeria, one-third of women have an unmet need for contraception, and nearly 80 percent of Nigerian farmers are women. Recognizing the important role of women as food producers, business owners, care givers, and mothers is key to creating a sustainable future for all.

The report sought contributions from four major groups working in the global food and agriculture system: a policy and trade group, a business specialists group, a rural livelihoods and poverty expert group, and an agricultural production and environmental sustainability group. Nourishing the Planet director Danielle Nierenberg coordinated the rural livelihoods and poverty expert group.

The central idea of the report is that during this century, farmers will need to produce more food per unit of land, water, and agrochemicals to feed the rapidly growing world population. But they will have to do this while facing climate change, market and social volatility, shifting nutrition needs, and an increasing scarcity of most of the factors involved in food production, including fertile soil, fossil fuels, and even farmers themselves.

The report’s contributors agree that one of the most problematic trends in the food and agriculture system is the misaligned focus on maximum production and yield. “The current ‘more production’ orientation is so outdated and unresponsive to our current needs that it is causing its own problems, particularly for our environment and natural resources,” states the report.

Partly as a consequence of this focus on production, 1 billion people are overweight or obese in the world while another billion are undernourished. Instead of focusing on production, policymakers and reformers must work to broaden access to food and improve the variety and nutrition of foods. “Rather than simply ‘more’ production, we must also consider what would be ‘better’ production and better food systems.”

Across the globe, the food system is broken. Worldwide, 30 percent of food is wasted, 1 billion people go to bed hungry each night, while another 1 billion suffer from health problems related to obesity and agriculture contributes roughly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Meanwhile, people are increasingly disconnected from how their food reaches their plate, making solutions to the global agricultural system seem even more difficult to attain.

The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) is collaborating with the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project to release their report, Eating Planet, today, April 22, (Earth Day). Eating Planet will highlight the challenges facing the food and agricultural system, as well as the numerous benefits that reform could bring.

The book incorporates findings from the report with contributions from many renowned experts and activists worldwide. “The study’s conclusions represent a major step toward ensuring that agriculture contributes to health, environmental sustainability, income generation, and food security,” said Nourishing the Planet project director Danielle Nierenberg. “The ingredients will vary by country and region, but there are some key components that will lead to healthier food systems everywhere.”

The report is divided into four sections: Food for All, Food for Sustainable Growth, Food for Health, and Food for Culture. Each section describes the challenges we face in providing safe, healthy, and environmentally sustainable food and offers concrete recommendations, proposals, and actions to help solve the global food crisis. The book also draws upon experts’ specific suggestions for food and agricultural reform, including healthy eating and lifestyles, fair food prices, and transparent and responsible food trade.

Project Director Danielle Nierenberg outlines the connection between sustainable agriculture and public health. She discusses agricultural initiatives that are cutting down on food waste, while producing nutritious food, such as hermetically sealed bags, which are helping to improve global health, while protecting the environment.

During her trip, Dani met with many small-scale farmers who shared their agricultural innovations and stories of success with her. (Photo credit: Bernard Pollack)

The piece highlights Nourishing the Planet project director Danielle Nierenberg’s journey to sub-Saharan Africa, where she visited dozens of projects that are improving livelihoods, while preserving natural resources and protecting the environment.

The article was originally published in the spring edition of Tufts’ Nutrition Magazine.

To purchase your own copy of State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, please click HERE. And to watch the one minute book trailer, click HERE.